Layers Of Fact Checkers -- NYeT!

Actually, GE is paying taxes for 2010 « Hot Air: "Later in the day, the Times changed its headline to “At GE on Tax Day, Billions of Reasons to Smile,” but the meme had already been set.  In fact, GE did not get a $3.2 billion refund.  They also paid estimated taxes during the course of the year, as all companies do, and they’re pretty sure they’re not getting a refund, either.  They will probably end up with a “small tax liability” for 2010, which means they have to write a check to the IRS on the 15th, like many Americans will do.

So how did the Times get the story so wrong?  Well, thanks to a ludicrous American tax code, it’s extremely complicated to analyze any company’s tax liabilities even from the inside, let alone from the outside.  The Times apparently got confused by a report showing a $3.2 billion “tax benefit” in 2010, which they mistook for an after-profit credit.  The term actually refers to estimated pre-profit deductions and credits, which lower the eventual taxable income number on which GE gets billed by the IRS.  It’s roughly analogous to mistaking personal itemized deductions on a tax return for a refund figure."

Good Lord. The NYeT. You can't even count on them when they appear to be on the side of heaven. Or is it you can't count on them especially when they appear to be on the side of heaven?